Theme In Relation To The Great Gatsby

Theme In Relation To The Great Gatsby: Honors Extension

The central tension in the novel deals with Gatsby and the world in which he lives. For we cannot ignore the obvious textual evidence, even if we want to contrast Gatsby with the society he inhabits, that he shares at least some of its corruption; for example, he was Wolfsheim’s protégé where he made his fortune. Between the world of the corrupt, vulgar materialism portrayed in the novel and the lyrical imagery—the wistful beauty and emotional force of which make it the most memorable and revealing dimension of the novel—so frequently used to describe that world. This tension structures the narrative regardless of how we measure the relative innocence or corruption of any particular character, and it is resolved by a theme of universal human significance that transcends the historical period in which the novel is set: the theme that unfulfilled longing is part of the human condition, common to all and inescapable. The imagery of unfulfilled longing is used to describe characters and settings regardless of wealth or poverty, refinement or vulgarity, corruption or innocence they represent. In addition, the imagery of unfulfilled longing is as inevitable as the change of seasons. Finally, the imagery of unfulfilled longing often has a static, timeless quality in the novel, which underscores both its universality and its inevitability; unfulfilled longing has always been and always will be a part of the human condition.

The imagery of unfulfilled longing weaves a common thread through characters that represent very different elements of society. Fitzgerald’s lyric imagery informs characterization through the novel in three ways; (1) nostalgia for a lost past; (2) as dreams of future fulfillment; and (3) as vague, undefined longing that has no specific goal.

(1) Consider Jordan, Nick, and Tom

(2) Consider Gatsby and Nick

(3) Consider Myrtle and Tom with their NYC world/apartment. Gatsby’s parties and Nick’s narration of them. How does the setting conflict with the vulgarity? Also, consider Gatsby and Daisy. How does Nick’s narrative quote, “held Gatsby most with its fluctuating, feverish warmth because it couldn’t be over-dreamed,” (Ch. 5) contribute to this? Also include, “It occurred to me that he had been very slowly bending toward her all evening to attain this proximity.” (Ch. 6) Finally, he (Nick) “was overwhelmingly aware of the youth and mystery that wealth imprisons and preserves” (Ch. 8).

ASSIGNMENT: Using this theme as your thesis statement and the three methods of proof provided, construct an outline using the three (3) uses of lyric imagery to inform characterization. You have the tools for consideration and now you have to find the examples within the novel. DUE NEXT BLOCK. 

The Gatsby Façade

Inference In Literature: Skills of inference are needed not just to be able to "read between the lines," to detect the unspoken hidden meanings that enrich overall understanding of a text or to draw one's own personal conclusions about a text. They are needed in handling texts: to understand the effects achieved through choices in vocabulary, to recognize what the writer is trying to accomplish through the whole text and to appreciate what the impact on the reader may be. 

1. We begin to learn about Gatsby in chapter 3. There are several details relayed through indirect characterization. Provide two examples.

2. Regardless of his lavish parties, Gatsby doesn't drink. Instead, he stands back and watches the guests at his parties, preferring to be in the background. Why do you believe he does this? What inferences can you make about Gatsby based on what you know from Chapters 1-3? What predictions? 

3. Ch.3 brings the 1920s glitz and glamour into focus. What do you notice about the social hierarchy? How is Fitzgerald's mood of 1920's America depicted?

4. Gatsby is said to be an enigma....a cross between East and West egg, what characteristics make him part of both?

5. Describe Gatsby's smile. Why is Nick so fascinated with it? What is the inference?

6. How is Jordan depicted? What does Nick's interest in her infer about his acclamation to the East Coast?

Essential Question: 

1. How does the historical context of when the text was written, or the historical setting of the narrative affect current readers' interpretations? I.E. Based on the 1920s social world and what Fitzgerald illuminates within the novel, how did he interpret the 1920s via Nick Carraway's eyes? How does this affect you as the reader? 

2. To what extent is Fitzgerald's message sustained or lost to the present-day reader? 

The Great Gatsby Cover Artwork

The cover of The Great Gatsby is among the most celebrated pieces of jacket art in American Literature. An artist named Francis Cugat was commissioned to illustrate the novel while Fitzgerald was in the midst of writing it. The cover was completed before the novel. Fitzgerald was so enamored of it he told the artist he had "written it into" the novel.

Assignment: Study the artwork by Cugat. What are some of the symbols you see? What is going on in the painting? Can you make any inferences about the novel based on the cover art??
****Minimun 100 words. 

Gatsby Introduction

Introduction: On the surface, The Great Gatsby is a story of the thwarted love between a man and a woman. The main theme of the novel, however, encompasses a much larger, less romantic scope. Though all of its action takes place over a mere few months during the summer of 1922 and is set in a circumscribed geographical area in the vicinity of Long Island, New York, The Great Gatsby is a highly symbolic meditation on 1920s America as a whole, in particular the disintegration of the American dream in an era of unprecedented prosperity and material excess.Fitzgerald portrays the 1920s as an era of decayed social and moral values, evidenced in its overarching cynicism, greed, and empty pursuit of pleasure. But how empty was their pursuit?